How Many Have Come?

An estimated 11,000,000 undocumented immigrants live in the U.S. (down from 12.5 million in 2007). By 2008, there were 8.3 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. workforce. Currently they are 3.5 percent of the U.S. population and 5.4 percent of the workforce.

The Families

“Approximately 5.5 million children of immigrants live in the U.S. including 4.5 million U.S. born citizens living in mixed-legal status families with at least one parent who is an unauthorized immigrant. U.S. POLICY RISKS A CHILD’S SEPARATION FROM PARENTS OR A PARENT.

The Children

“In 2011 approximately 5,100 American children with a detained or deported parents end up in the public child welfare system. If deportations continue at these levels in five years an additional 15,000 children in the child welfare system could be at risk of permanent separation from their detained or deported parent. U.S. POLICY CAUSES CHILDREN TO SUFFER.

The Dragnet

“In recent years, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has detained and deported record numbers of people from the United States. In fiscal year 2011, ICE deported nearly 400,000 people. Many of them were long-time residents with no serious criminal history, and one out of every five was the parent of a U.S. citizen child.” U.S. POLICY CAUSES PARENTS TO SUFFER.

Lock ‘Em Up:

“The ‘lock’em up’ approach is contrary to common sense and our American values…Our detention system locks up hundreds of thousands of immigrants unnecessarily every year, exposing detainees to brutal and inhumane conditions of confinement at massive costs to American taxpayers. This lock-up system is a massive waste of taxpayer dollars, costing $2 billion a year.” Being detained means not just facing a loss of liberty, separation from their families and the prospect of deportation. It means being vulnerable to the myriad abuses that the system has been found to be rife with including rape and unconstitutional levels of medical and mental health care that have left people fighting for their lives.” U.S. POLICY CAUSES THE UNDOCUMENTED TO SUFFER.

The Myths Extremists Use To Wage War Against Immigration Reform

“Anchor Babies” keep their parents in the United States. Over 108,000 parents of U.S.-born children have been deported over the last decade.

Anyone who illegally enters the U.S. is a criminal. As the laws are currently written, illegal entry into the United States does not make one a “criminal”.

Illegal immigrants don’t pay taxes but still get benefits including free education for their children.The undocumented pay taxes including $6 to $7 billion in SS taxes for benefits they may never get.

There are more illegal immigrants here now than ever before. In 1900, the foreign-born constituted nearly 20% of the population. Today, about 12% of the population is foreign-born.

Illegal immigrants bring crime. Violent crime across the nation has declined by 34% and property crime by 26%. The foreign-born are imprisoned at a much lower rate than native-born Americans.

Immigrants take good jobs from Americans. Between 2000 and 2005, the supply of low-skilled American-born workers slipped by 1.8 million. Unskilled workers are needed.

Today’s immigrants don’t want to blend in and become “Americanized” and refuse to learn English. In 2010, 500,000 became naturalized citizens. They had to get here, find work, overcome language barriers, pay naturalization fees, deal with immigration bureaucracy, and take a written citizenship test. This is not the behavior of people who take becoming American lightly.

There’s a way to enter the country legally for anyone who wants to get in line. There is no “line” for poor people with few skills to gain permanent U.S. residency. Under current policy, many of our own ancestors who arrived between 1790 and 1924 would not be allowed in today.

Extremist Lawmakers Wage War Against Immigration Reform

The extremist lawmakers have defeated every attempt Congress has made toward immigration reform. (2013) S.744 “The Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013” Written by a bipartisan group of 8 senators to cover every aspect of the immigration process from border and enforcement issues to legal immigration reforms. EXTREMISTS BLOCKED PASSAGE.

(2001 – 2012) The Dream Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Provides conditional residency to certain undocumented immigrants of good moral character who graduate from U.S. high schools, arrived in the United States as minors, and lived in the country continuously for five years prior to the bill’s enactment. FOR 12 YEARS EXTREMIST LAWMAKERS HAVE BLOCKED PASSAGE.

Republicans Block Immigration Reform For Political Reasons Only!

COULTER: Calls a path to citizenship the “browning of America…Democrats want more illegal immigrants, because they need brand new voters, warm bodies, another 30 million voters.”

CRUZ: Considering immigration reform now would diminish the “incredible opportunity to retake the Senate in 2014…Immigration reform is the number one thing Republicans could do to mess that up.”

The undocumented give back far more than they take and yet during the last 5 years, the White House has deported “one of the largest peacetime outflows of people in America’s history.” Instead of providing a reasonable path to citizenship we’re spending an estimated $46 billion to let them die in the desert. We deport, detain and deter this incredible natural resource with a 2,000 mile wall, 38,405 border police at a cost of $400 million in 2015 alone.